Published 4:57 pm, Friday, December 20, 2013

Don Carpenter, director of the Convention Center, said that after upgrading some features of the center, it was time to re-evaluate rental fees.

“We have a new sound system, new chairs,” Carpenter said. “We’ve upgraded everything and upgraded fees along with it.”

Instead of raising the fees across the board on a percentage scale, Carpenter looked at comparable facilities in the area and raised the fees to be on par.

“We haven’t raised our fees since 2006, and we’re quite a bit lower than other facilities,” Carpenter said. “Now we have all new equipment, so we’re charging for that.”

The areas affected include the Yellow Rose meeting rooms, festival area RV spaces, exhibit halls and the Horseshoe Club. The stage and dance floor both now rent by the square foot per event, and new padded chairs are available in the Convention Center for $1.50 each per day.

Audio/visual equipment, such as screens, microphones and podiums, is subject to availability and has a set price per item per event.

“We didn’t charge for AV before either,” Carpenter said. “Now we have a new sound system, a really quality sound system that we rent instead of it coming as part of the building.”

The fee increases do not affect the Montgomery County Fair, FFA or 4H club, Carpenter said.

“The facility, the fairgrounds in particular, was built by and for those people originally,” Carpenter said. “I wanted to make sure everybody understood they weren’t affected.”

The fee increases also do not affect those with contracts with the Convention Center, or those currently in negotiations.

Carpenter presented the rate increases to the Montgomery County Commissioners Court Monday, and the fee increases were unanimously approved.